Ernie Whitt knew it was over watching Jim Sundberg’s fly ball to right carry … and carry … and carry in Game 7.

Tom Henke thought it should have been over after Game 4.

Lloyd Moseby had an inkling after manager Bobby Cox visited the mound in Game 3.

The Kansas City Royals won the World Series 29 years ago, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7.

To get there, the Royals had to knock off the favoured Blue Jays, accomplishing the feat in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on an October night at Exhibition Stadium. It was back when the Jays first had a taste of post-season ball.

The 1985 Blue Jays won 99 games for a .615 winning mark (99-62, .615) the best record in the 38-year history of the franchise.

They were led by Dave Stieb and Jimmy Key on the mound, along with Jesse Barfield and Tony Fernandez at the plate.

———-

The Jays won the first two games at Exhibition Stadium and headed to K.C. up 2-0.

“We thought we were the best team in baseball — like the Washington Nationals thought they were this year. Believe me, I know their pain,” said Moseby from Sacramento, Calif.

The Jays had the most wins in the AL and were second to only the St. Louis Cardinals, who won 101 times.

“And then Skip came to the mound,” Moseby said.

Doyle Alexander was pitching.

Bobby Cox was playing the role of the Skipper.

George Brett was hitting with Willie Wilson on first, none out in the sixth and the Jays leading 5-3 in Game 3.

“We thought Skip came out, asked Doyle, ‘Can you get him?’ Doyle said, ‘Yes, Skip,’ (and Cox said): ‘Don’t let him beat you,’ ” said Moseby. “There was something different about the series after that. I don’t know if it was momentum or what.”

Brett hit a two-run homer to left-centre and the game was tied.

The Jays won Game 4, were shut out in Game 5 and headed back to “old Exhibition Stadium,” as everyone calls it now.

“We were like ghosts leaving K.C.,” Moseby said. “If you can’t win one game out of three, you don’t deserve to win, but there was something about Game 3 … it’s no longer a 162-game season, it’s a series.

“Now every error, every mistake is going to be big. I think that was a mental mistake and I’m not blaming Doyle at all.”

Hal McRae doubled before the cheering died from the Brett homer and Cox was out again, this time signalling for reliever Dennis Lamp.

“That was the plan going in, we were not going to let George Brett beat us,” said Whitt from Vancouver before a speaking engagement at a Little League baseball banquet.

“The pitches he hit were not centre-cut, George Brett hit pretty good pitches,” Whitt said. “I was very impressed with George Brett.”

In Royals lore, Game 6 was known as the “The George Brett Game,” for he did more than hit his third homer and a double off Alexander. He led off the eighth with a single against Jim Clancy and the score tied, was bunted to second and scored on a Steve Balboni bloop single.

He also made the defensive play of the game in the third, as Damaso Garcia doubled and reached third when left fielder Lonnie Smith mishandled the ball. Moseby hit a hard grounder down the third-base line. Brett lunged, made a backhanded play and fired a strike to catcher Sundberg from foul ground.

“George was a player you have to pitch to,” Henke said. “Doyle thought he could get him. You can’t pitch around everyone.

“When it was over, we looked back on it: George Brett beat us by himself.”

Brett earned ALCS MVP honours.

———-

The Detroit Tigers swept the Royals in the best-of-five 1984 ALCS.

The next year, the format was switched to a best-of-seven.

“And we had those dirty dawgs down 3-1,” said Henke as he drove through Missouri on his way home from the Scott Bailes celebrity golf tournament (“I can drive and talk, I can multi-task, I’d save games and talk after the game, didn’t I?”).

“We had the Royals down 3-1, they won, they were down 3-1 to St. Louis in the World Series and won. You know, sometimes, maybe it wasn’t meant to be. When you think about what happened with (manager) Dick Howser, maybe they had a little help.”

Howser, the brilliant Royals manager, was managing in the 1986 all-star game in Houston when he experienced severe head aches. His players and coaches noticed he had trouble recognizing people.

He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and never managed again. Howser died on June 18, 1987.

Said Moseby: “Maybe fate was on their side … it was their time to win.”

Asked about the change to the best-of-seven format, Moseby jokingly said, “We’re still protesting that, but I haven’t heard anything lately.”

———-

Whitt says he’s not sure “how many opposite field homers Sundberg hit in his career, but he hit that one.”

Well, actually it was a triple off the top of the right-field fence, clearing the bases and giving the Royals a 6-1 lead with two out in the sixth.

Sundberg hit .167 against the Jays and managed 36 triples in his 16-year career with the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Royals.

“We were in disbelief and in shock, it wasn’t an easy pill to swallow,” Whitt said. “In the clubhouse, we were in shock. We’d let something slip away.

“That was the first time we’d won our division. It took a good 10 days to two weeks to snap out of it.”

About the same amount of time it took the Royals to win the Series.

Henke said the 1985 Jays was “one of the best teams” he’d ever been with.

Whitt said it was the best he’d ever played for, crediting management for bringing in Bill Caudill and Gary Lavelle, then promoting Henke.

Whitt said Cox did a “tremendous job” and wishes “Bobby would have stayed on and kept the coaching staff as status quo.”

Two games into the World Series, the Jays lost their manager as Cox headed home to Atlanta to manage the Braves.

———-

The Jays were in good shape with George Bell on first when Cliff Johnston singled to left in Game 6 against Danny Jackson.

Bell headed for third and was thrown out. Later, Bell called the umpires anti-Canadian.

“George had a way with words — like when he told fans to kiss his purple butt — he didn’t have a filter, didn’t always think before speaking,” Henke said. “He’s as good a teammate as I ever had. He’d be angry if he had four hits and we lost, happy if he was hitless and we won. Not all hitters are like that.”

Earlier this summer, Henke staged his 20th annual celebrity golf tourney (“Who won? It was rained out”) at Eagle Knoll near Jefferson City, Mo. The charity tourney has raised more than $1 million US for a special learning centre and $250,000 for diabetes research.

Ex-Jays Danny Cox, Ken Dayley and Tom Lawless, a number of Kansas City Chiefs, a contingent of St. Louis Blues led by Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, wrestler (Handsome) Harley Race and Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog have been guests in the past.

“Someone asked Whitey what he thought of instant replay,” Henke said. “Whitey said, ‘It’s about 30 years too damn late,’ and he might have had a few other adjectives tossed in there, too.”

Down 1-0 in a tight Game 6 of the World Series, Royals’ Jorge Orta grounded to St. Louis first baseman Jack Clark, who flipped to Todd Worrell covering. First base ump Don Denkinger ruled Orta safe, but replays showed he was out. The Royals rallied for two runs to force Game 7.

Herzog and the rest of the Cards are still sour.

Ditto for the so close, yet so far 1985 Jays.

“You fight so hard to get to that point, through ups and downs, to come down to basically a wind-blown fly ball … it’s tough,” Henke said. “Imagine if they had wild cards back then? We would have made it in 1984 and 1987.

“I don’t think we celebrate that era enough.”

The Blue Jays began a streak of 11-straight winning seasons in 1984. It was a good time to be a Blue Jay — during the regular season.

Buddy Black thought it was a fly ball off the bat.

Frank White was hoping that the ball would be off the wall.

Buddy Biancalana knew the ball was not crushed, but was hoping it would be trouble.

It was.

The Kansas City Royals led the Blue Jays 2-1 with two out in the sixth inning of Game 7 of the 1985 American League World Series.

Royals catcher Jim Sundberg lifted a 1-0 pitch from Dave Stieb off the right field fence.

Hal McRae scored.

Pat Sheridan scored.

And Steve Balboni scored.

Or, in other words, everyone but reliever Charlie Leibrandt scored for a five-run lead, assuring K.C. of a berth in its first World Series.

“Any time you get insurance like that, it’s like taking a deep breath of fresh air,” said Biancalana from San Francisco. The former shortstop now runs PM-PM Sports Zone training in Scottsdale, Ariz. He represented lefty Aaron Laffey, who pitched for the Jays in 2013.

———-

“When Jim hit it, we thought ‘Oh no, it’s going to be caught,’ ” said Black, the San Diego Padres manager. “The wind was really howling hard into the right field corner … then we thought it could be trouble.

“It kept carrying and carrying and carrying, we thought it had a chance to go out, we were watching Jesse Barfield and then we were worried it was might go foul.”

Black was in three games against the Blue Jays. He started Game 2, pitching seven and allowing three runs — two earned — on five hits and a walk, worked in relief facing four hitters in Game 3 and pitched 31/3 scoreless in Game 6, falling an out short of the save. Lloyd Moseby singled Tony Fernandez to second. Dan Quisenberry came in to strike out Garth Iorg to force Game 7.

“Whenever you win a Game 6, it really creates some momentum,” said Biancalana, who the 1985 Jays had a solid, balanced team. And after Game 6, the two were on even footing.

“It’s a real powerful momentum shift for us,” Bianaclana said. “They were probably over there saying, ‘We’ve still got one more chance.’

“We used that shift going into Game 7.”

The Jays may have been favoured, but they rolled to a 67-35 record (.657) against right-handed pitchers (102 homers, .272 average, .765 OPS). They were 32-27 (.542) facing lefties (56 homers, .263, .742 OPS).

The Royals featured three lefty starters in Danny Jackson, Leibrandt and Black. Manager Dick Howser used Leibrandt three times (two starts) while Black and Jackson pitched twice each (one start apiece) as the trio combined to pitch 36 of the Royals’ 622/3 innings (57.4%) and a 2.75 ERA.

“Charlie and I were similar,” said Black. “We were good at keeping it down and away from George Bell and Barfield. We could neutralize their left-handed hitters (Ernie Whitt, Willie Upshaw and Moseby) most of the time.”

Black’s father, also named Harry, was born in Calgary and raised in Edmonton, before gaining a USC hockey scholarship and playing for the Los Angeles Monarchs in the Pacific Coast League.

“Buddy and Charlie made it tough for their right-handed hitters,” said Biancalana.

“Right field wasn’t very far, we thought it was going off the wall,” said White. “The thing I remember about Game 7, about the eighth or ninth — after the triple — was an intoxicated guy falling out of the stands on to the field and it took security a while to get him off the field.

“It took so long we were worried it would break our momentum.”

With one out in the ninth, Barfield singled and Fernandez doubled to chase Leibrandt.

On came Quisenberry to get Garcia on a grounder, knocking in a run and then Moseby bounced to White at second. Of the Royals went to St. Louis and the World Series.

“Both teams were quick, we were turf teams,” said White. “Back then, you had no idea the type of power Toronto had. What a hitter Bell was — one the best right-handed hitters in the game. The Jays were built the right way: Pitching, defence and speed. Any time you go up against a Bobby Cox team, you know it’s going to be a tough series.”

———-

After Al Oliver’s second late pinch hit drove in a run to win Game 4, the Jays led the ALCS 3-1.

“If you remember, that was the first year it wasn’t 3-of-5,” said White from Lee’s Summitt, Mo. “If it’s the old rules, we would have been done real quick.

“Once we got down 3-1, it was one game at a time. Toronto was favoured — they had to be favoured. We knew Stieb was always tough, we felt it was going to be a knock-down drag-out series. They had more power, speed was close.

“The only advantage we had was that it was seven games.”

They were down 3-1, but the Royals weren’t down.

“Melancholy would have been a better word,” said Biancalana. “But we weren’t thriving, either. That’s the interesting thing about sports: A state of melancholy versus a state of excitement. Sometimes there is an advantage when you’re not expected to do anything. The Jays were up. They were expected to win.”

Stieb started Games 1, 4 and 7, while Jimmy Key and Doyle Alexander started two games each.

“We really thought we’d see Jim Clancy but he didn’t start,” said White. “He had a real good sinker and slider. He helped get them to get where they were.”

Clancy missed August, 43 days in all, and then went 2-2 with a 3.14 ERA in six September starts.

“We didn’t think we were done, at no time did we think we had it wrapped up,” said Black. “We weren’t confident but we were in a good frame of mind.”

———-

Biancalana’s favourite memory was in Game 3, when Brett came up with a man on base. He’d already homered and doubled in his first two at-bats against Doyle Alexander. K.C. trailed 5-3.

“I was in the dugout after he hit the first homer and, looking out to the left field bleachers, all the fans stood,” said Biancalana.

“George looked out and it was like he said, ‘Okay, I got you covered.’ It gave me goosebumps when he homered again … to see an athlete respond to 40,000 people cheering.”

———-

Bouncing back from a 3-1 deficit against the Jays, the Royals did it again to win the World Series against St. Louis.

“What happened in the ALCS was fresh in our minds,” said Black from San Diego, “but it was entirely different. We had to win Game 5 at home and then go to Toronto, while in the World Series, if we won Game 5 in St. Louis, we were going home.”

Cards lefty John Tudor pitched 62/3 innings, allowing one run to win Game 1, pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 4 and, after the Royals evened the series at 3-3, the Royals knew they’d face Tudor again in Game 7.

“Some of our guys were chanting Tudor’s name, we had a groundswell of optimism,” said White.

Were players hooting Stieb’s name? “No way,” said White.

It’s very difficult for a starter to win three straight against another team. Three times in 12 days? On short rest?

Tudor lasted 21/3 innings, allowing five runs on three hits and four walks.

The press box announced shortly after his departure that Tudor had “cut his hand on a fan.”

A few minutes later, came another announcement “correction, he cut his hand on an electric fan, not a fan.”

“It was so hot that they had installed three electric fans in each dugout, one at each end, one in the middle,” said White. “He must have hit one when he headed to the clubhouse.”

After the second announcement, our row in the auxiliary press box — Mike Lupica from New York, Randy Youngmans of the Orange County Register and myself — seated among the paying customers burst out laughing. Loudly.

Except, unbeknownst to us, the wife of a Cardinals player was across the aisle.

A woman we’d never seen before came over screaming: “You guys have always been against us since spring training!”

Game 1

Jays 6, Royals 1

(Exhibition Stadium)

Dave Stieb pitched eight scoreless — allowing doubles to George Brett and Dane Iorg — and a single to Brett. This despite a second-inning visit from Juanita Smith, stage name Chrissie, a Mississauga ballet dancer. Smith was on the mound almost as long as Charlie Leibrandt, who last two innings.

George Bell, Whitt and Fernandez had two hits apiece while Barfield knocked in a pair.

Game 2

Jays 6, Royals 5

Having given up the lone run in the ninth of Game 1, Tom Henke was touched for a run in the top of the 10th — his third inning of work — but he wound up the winner as Fernandez led off with an infield single against Dan Quisenberry, in his third inning. Fernandez moved to second on a grounder and scored on Lloyd Moseby’s single, a dropped pick-off throw at first put Moseby on second and Al Oliver plated him with a walk-off hit.

Lefty Jimmy Key worked 3 1/3 innings allowing three runs, but Dennis Lamp pitched three scoreless. Buddy Black pitched seven innings allowing three runs — two earned. Moseby and Johnson each had a pair of hits, while Barfield drove in a pair.

Game 3

Royals 6, Jays 5

Brett was 3-for-8 in the first two games with a double and zero RBIs. Bobby Cox’s plan was to pitch around him. Doyle Alexander’s plan was to challenge him. Brett homered in the first (after Whitt threw out Willie Wilson attempting to steal) in the first, double and scored leading off the fourth and hit a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game 5-5. Brett singled off Jim Clancy in the eighth and scored on Steve Balboni’s two-out single. Brett finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBIs.

Down 2-0 to Bret Saberhagen in the fifth, the Jays scored five times on a Whitt single, Barfield homer, a one out double by Damo Garcia, a Moseby single and a Mulliniks homer.

Game 4

Jays 3, Royals 1

This was not a series dominated by closers as the Royals took a 1-0 lead — Stieb walked Hal McRae with the bases loaded — into the ninth. Leibrandt walked Garcia and allowed an RBI double to Moseby. On came Quisenberry and gave up a single to Bell and Oliver hit a two-run double.

Henke then got the save with the 1-2-3-4-5 ninth, finishing off 2 1/3 scoreless. Cox went to Henke to face Willie Wilson with two on in the seventh as Stieb pitched 6 2/3 allowing one run.

Brett was held hitless, but walked twice.

Game 5

Royals 2, Jays 0

Much like Curt Schilling would do in 1993, Danny Jackson shut down the Jays pitching a complete-game shutout, scattering eight hits to avoid elimination. Key worked 5 1/3 innings allowing a run when Brett bounced out in the first and Darryl Motley hit a fly ball in the second.

The Jays best chance came in the fourth when Bell singled and Johnson followed with a single to left. Bell attempted to go to third and was thrown out on a bang-bang play by Lonnie Smith. Bell argued the call by umpire Dale Ford and accused the umpires of being “anti-Canadian.” Oh Canada George Bell stands on guard for three.

Game 6

Royals 5, Jays 3

Brett hit a solo homer off Alexander in the fifth for a 3-2 lead. Buddy Biancalana’s run-scoring double chased Alexander with one out in the sixth and Smith doubled for a 5-3 lead. Johnson singled in a run … but that was it.

Moseby had three hits for the Jays, while Brett was 1-for-3 with his third homer of the series off Alexander.

Game 7

Royals 6, Jays 2

The Jays were down 2-0 on a Jim Sundberg single in the second and Pat Sheridan homer off Stieb in the fourth. Leibrandt took over for Saberhagen, but the reliever worked 5 1/3 innings. Willie Upshaw doubled in a cutting the lead to 2-1 in the fifth.

And then came the sixth … Stieb walked Brett on four pitches, hit McRae with a 1-2 pitch and then walked Balboni on a 3-2 pitch. Sundberg lifted a triple off the right field fence.

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